Editing Ridge, New York (section)

===The Longwood Estate===
{{main|Manor St. George}}
In 1693, [[William "Tangier" Smith]], who owned a homestead in [[Setauket, New York|Setauket]], was allowed to purchase a large tract of land on the [[South Shore (Long Island)|South Shore]] of Long Island in recognition of his being mayor of [[Tangier]] in Africa. The land, called Manor St. George, stretched from the [[Carmans River]] (then called the Connecticut River) in the west to the edge of the town of [[Southampton, New York|Southampton]] in the east, with a northern border around present-day [[New York State Route 25]], as much as {{convert|81,000|acre|km2}} of land. He made his manor seat on the South Shore in present-day [[Mastic, New York|Mastic]], and the northern part, now the south side of Ridge, was called "The Swamp" or "Longswamp". A house wasn't built at Longswamp until after the [[American Revolution]]. In 1817, William Sydney Smith inhabited the house and changed the name to ''Longwood''.

In 1955, what then remained of William Smith's original manor was primarily located in Ridge and was surrounded by the world growing up around it, in the form of the [[Brookhaven National Laboratory]] and the surrounding areas becoming increasingly populated. Longwood's {{convert|750|acre}} fell into the hands of Elbert Clayton Smith, who immediately moved his family from California to live there. He seems to have been very generous to his new community; his donations included {{convert|51|acre}} to the school board for the construction of Longwood High School and {{convert|6|acre}} to [[Middle Island Presbyterian Church]]. In 1967, Elbert Smith died, and the Longwood Estate was carved into housing developments and nearly destroyed until enough noise was made about preservation to have the house and {{convert|35|acre}} of land given to the Town of Brookhaven in 1974. The [[Smith Estate (Ridge, New York)|Smith Estate]] was added to the [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1981.<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|2009a}}</ref>